Unsupported Browser
The American College of Surgeons website is not compatible with Internet Explorer 11, IE 11. For the best experience please update your browser.
Menu
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
ACS
October 18, 2021

CoC Accreditation: Committed to the Best in Cancer Care

Backgrounder: CoC Accreditation: Committed to the Best in Cancer Care

October 18, 2021

The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) is a team of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for people with cancer through standards setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive care.

As a convener, connector and collaborator, the CoC brings together the country’s leading organizations and oncological experts to harness their collective wisdom and experience to advance treatments and improve outcomes.

The CoC is the leader in setting standards for compassionate, personalized care coordinated to treat the whole patient.

  • A group of dedicated members of the American College of Surgeons and more than 50 cancer-related organizations harness their collective wisdom and experience to advance treatments, improve outcomes, and contribute to the development of standards and the accreditation program.
  • The CoC establishes the infrastructure and provides data to help inform cancer care and continuous quality improvement through:
    • Creation and dissemination of cancer care standards that support screening and prevention through diagnosis and treatment and palliative and survivorship care;
    • Research to evaluate the effectiveness of cancer care;
    • Data collection to document outcomes in the real world through the National Cancer Database (NCDB), established in 1989, as the world’s first and largest cancer data registry. NCDB captures more than 70 percent of newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Throughout its 100-year history, the CoC has continuously advanced cancer care and improved outcomes for people with cancer.

  • In 1931, the CoC was the first organization to establish standards and provide accreditation for cancer centers.
  • Today, more than 1,500 hospitals across the U.S.—caring for nearly 70 percent of all people with cancer—are accredited by the CoC.

Across their care journey, people with cancer can be confident that their medical teams at CoC-accredited programs have access to the necessary knowledge and skills to provide comprehensive, evidence-based, and personalized cancer treatment that improves and extends their lives.

  • The CoC continuously works with hospital cancer programs to improve care to provide the best possible outcomes.
  • CoC-accredited cancer programs are committed to providing patients with all the services they need—from diagnosis through treatment, rehabilitation, and survivorship care.
  • Patients receiving care from CoC-accredited cancer program will receive:
    • Comprehensive, personalized care provided by a team of specialists working closely together
    • Access to information on clinical trials and new treatment options
    • Ongoing monitoring of care and lifelong follow-up
    • Mental health support, financial guidance, survivorship care, and other long-term services
    • Continuous improvements in the quality of your care
  • Accreditation is a rigorous process. CoC-accredited cancer programs undergo an on-site visit every three years, in which a trained CoC site visit reviewer visits the cancer program and checks required cancer program activity documentation to ensure compliance with the standards.

As our understanding of cancer and its treatment options evolve, so does the CoC. The CoC never stops learning, improving and championing the advancement of care for people with cancer.

10/19/21

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has approximately 90,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Contact